


The Phantom Thieves of UA

by RelativelyFlaaffy



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bully Bakugou Katsuki, M/M, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Monoma Neito-centric, Palaces (Persona 5), Persona 5 AU, Polyamory, Slow Burn, future M/M relationships, well there's gonna be polyamory its not done yet
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:16:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27112492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RelativelyFlaaffy/pseuds/RelativelyFlaaffy
Summary: In a society where quirks are overvalued, the people with the most powerful quirks are able to get away with whatever they want, while those without quirks are forced to just endure it. Tired of the oppression at the hands of Heroes and Villains alike, The Phantom Thieves take up action. Armed with powers that are unlike quirks and access to another world based on people's hearts, they're going to fix society one heart at a time.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 36





	1. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 000:00:00:00

"It's nice to see you again, my friend. Ah, do not try to stand up too quickly. It's probably not a very good idea to overexert yourself. You have just died after all." The man's voice was gentle and calming. His words, less so.

"I'm... dead?" He looked around the room, blue velvet walls immediately stood out to the blond-haired boy. He stared at his own hands, they looked corporeal enough. "Who even... am I?" 

The man in front of him looked surprised for a second, before regaining his prior composure. "I see... so you've lost your memories. That is common with those who are deceased. You are Neito Monoma. As for me, you could call me... Shigaraki." 

"Shigaraki... I see." Neito managed to get up onto his knees and got a better look at Shigaraki's face. His long white hair came into focus, but his face was youthful. Had he died young? Or was he even human? Perhaps Shigaraki was some demon, ruling over the underworld. "Was I... a good person?"

Shigaraki laughed. "Don't worry, Neito. I'm not here to judge you, nothing of the sort. If you want my opinion though, you are a great and virtuous hero, if you were to be judged you'd be placed in the highest echelons."

"That's nice to hear..." Neito coughed and scratched his head. "I still can't remember anything past my name. What did I even do to deserve praises like that?" 

Shigaraki looked troubled. "That truly is a predicament. If you don't recall your past, there is no way you'll be able to move on to the next step."

"The next step? What happens next?" Neito paused for a few seconds to consider his next question. "Is there an afterlife?" 

Shigaraki paused for a good minute to think it over. "That's a good question, Neito. One without an easy answer. Yes, there is an afterlife for us, as despite being dead we're still here in this place. However, this place is made manifest by a quirk and exists in the collective unconscious. It is not a place that's open for everyone."

Neito looked at him with a blank expression. "That made no sense." 

"It will soon." 

"I... see. I'm sorry Shigaraki," Neito held his head in his hands. "I just can't remember anything." 

"That is a problem, I don't wish for you to get lost in the other world..." Shigaraki paused for a second, and stared at a clock on the far wall. "There is still time. I'll have to rouse the memories that you are missing. Hopefully you'll remember everything in time, we only have a couple of hours." 

It was the 7th of April in the year 2149...


	2. The UA Bully's Vices

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neito Monoma meets Izuku Midoriya and together they stumble onto something huge.

Neito Monoma had wanted to be a hero for as long as he could remember. When he was a child he always wondered what powerful combination of his parents' quirks he'd get. Sadly he didn't get that. In fact he didn't even remember manifesting his own quirk.

Neito's quirk was Copy, a quirk gained via mutation rather than by combining aspects of his mother or fathers' quirks. A power that could never be unique, could never be his own. It had got him into UA, but it didn't really feel like his own work. He'd used the quirks of his fellow students after all, not his own power but the powers of others. Not the power of a protagonist, at best he could only hope to be a side character in someone else's story.

Neito stared at his phone, the weird app was back, the icon with the red eye. He rolled his eyes and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He’d have to factory reset the thing later.

Yesterday had been very eventful, he’d found that strange app on his phone, and been introduced to his class at UA, class 1-B. And here he was on Monday morning, about to start out at the hero school UA. As he was making his way toward the gates, he heard something unsettling.

“The fuck are you doing here shitty deku?! I thought I told you to take a dive off the roof.”

“I’m sorry Kacchan I- I’m sorry…”

“You’re too weak to even do that? You really are worthless deku. How about I help you out.” The sound of crackling could be heard, and the other boy whimpered at the threat.

What kind of hero would he be if he didn’t step in? His legs moved before his brain got the chance to kick in. He rounded the corner and looked down the alley to see a green-haired boy shaking like a leaf and a blond hero course student towering over him, he recognised him from the exam.

“Oh? Someone from the hero course bullying a fellow student… that’s not very heroic is it now?”

The two boys looked at Neito and the bully scoffed.

“He’s not in my class, just some quirkless trash from general studies.”

“Kacchan’s right… I’m-”

“That’s nonsense I say!” Neito interrupted indignantly. He pointed towards ‘Kacchan’. “A prospective hero should not treat anyone like that regardless of quirk. You’re a disgrace to the hero course.”

“The fuck did you say? You fucking extras wouldn’t get it! I’m-”

“Bakugo Katsuki. This isn’t your personal colosseum. Get to class.” A scruffy teacher affixed Bakugo with a disapproving glare. The hot-headed bully stomped off in a huff, not content with the way the fight was interrupted but unwilling to be punished for a cause so trivial. 

Neito offered his hand to the general studies student to help him off the floor. The boy looked scared at first but accepted with a dorky smile on his face.

“Thank you so much… no one’s ever done that for me… what’s your name?” He took his hand back from Neito to clear the dust off his uniform.

“Oh, I’m Monoma Neito. Class 1-B. I’m afraid I did not catch your name either.” 

“Oh! Sorry! Midoriya. Izuku! That’s uh… my name…” Izuku scratched the back of his neck. “Thank you so much for saving me Monoma-kun!”

“You don’t have to thank me Midoriya-kun, what I did is simply what heroics is about, no? Besides all that, I cannot stand those who put others down on their journey to the top… I can’t be the protagonist, but if I was- I’d bring my friends with me, not leave them in the dust!” Neito noticed the other boy’s shocked expression and laughed nervously. “Sorry, I got a little too impassioned.”

“No! It’s fine! Actually, I kind of do stuff like that sometimes, I think you’re really amazing and your opinion on heroics is so true! I wouldn’t want to leave anyone behind either and I think that maybe you’re being a little hard on Kacchan but also yourspeechwasreallyinspirationalIthinkyoucouldbecomeareallygreathero…” 

“Midoriya-kun, you mumbled a little toward the end… but I’m very grateful for the sentiment. Don’t you think we should get to UA though? We’ll be late if we don’t hurry..” 

Izuku’s eyes shot open in shock. “Yes! We should get going! I’m so sorry!” He rushed out of the alley, and Neito followed, laughing.

“Really, it’s okay… I could stand being a little late. I’m sure Vlad King would understand” His teacher was an incredible hero and seemed like a very understanding man.

When they rounded the gate into UA though, they saw something neither of them expected. Towering in front of them was not the school campus but a huge Roman amphitheatre. 

“I- I don’t remember UA having a building like this…”

Neito laughed nervously. “It definitely didn’t. Maybe this is the work of a villain…” He paused for a second. “Either way, we should investigate.”

Izuku nodded and the two boys made their way toward the colosseum. As they got closer it became clear that not all of the arches were entrances, some were locked away with large gates or just led to walls or statues. They instead made their way toward the main entrance and passed through the huge arch. The first thing that caught Neito’s eye upon stepping inside was a large statue of Bakugo situated right in front of the entrance. 

“What absolutely tasteless décor.” Neito’s words echoed through the empty halls of the arena, which were otherwise completely silent.

“This makes no sense… why would anyone have statues of Kacchan like this...?” Izuku was staring at the details of the well-made statue, in awe of how accurate each of its features was.

Neito rolled his eyes and then noticed something. “That staircase over there says it leads to the stands. Maybe we should go that way.”

“It doesn’t sound like there’s a show on” Izuku had a point, the place was deathly silent.

“Still, it might give us some insight, it’s worth a try.” Neito asserted. Izuku shrugged and turned away from the statue to follow Neito. They proceeded up the staircase and as they moved out into the open air a loud cheer was heard coming from the crowd. The stadium was packed and in the central arena there were two gladiators, one standing over the dead body of the other.

“And Emperor Bakugo’s champion is victorious once again! Glory to the Emperor!” It was Present Mic’s voice announcing the results. And across from them, Neito met the eyes of Bakugo himself draped in expensive robes and sitting back on his throne.

“That fucking deku and his idiot hero are in my colosseum?! Guards! What did I say about keeping trash out? Seize them!” Bakugo roared from his cosy box on the other side of the stadium. Immediately guards came out of the various entrances to the audience box and moved to surround them.

“Kacchan! What’s going on here? Why are you doing this?” Izuku was close to crying. 

“The next show is going to be exciting... I can’t wait to see you extras cut to pieces!” Bakugo laughed loudly, and everything went dark when Neito got clonked on the back of the head. 

He woke up on a hard surface and opened his eyes to see he was in a dark cell. 

“Monoma-kun, you’re okay! We need to escape quickly. Before they come back!” Izuku was pacing back and forth frantically. “You're in the hero course aren't you? What’s your quirk? We need some way to get out of this cell...”

“Ah, about that…” Monoma rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head. “My quirk is Copy, it lets me copy the quirks of whoever I touch.”

“That’s so versatile! We could… oh. I see… there’s no quirks to copy. We’re in real trouble.”

“You can say that again. Our best shot might be to just wait for now until we get a moment to strike.”

Izuku nodded in agreement, and the two didn’t have to wait very long before the guards came back to their cell. One of them unlocked the cell and stepped in while the other two stayed in the hall. All three of the guards were wearing roman armour and heavy masks were built into their helmets, but the one in the room had golden armour instead of the shiny steel the others had.

“Izuku Midoriya, Emperor Bakugo has requested you face the trials.” The guard in the room was the one to speak, but there was no outward indication of speech, the guard’s mask didn’t move an inch.

“We’re not going together?” Izuku was surprised. It wasn’t ideal for them to be split up, they could both agree on that.

“Emperor Bakugo has decided that the other one can go free if you comply, Izuku Midoriya. The Emperor truly has a merciful soul.” If the guard had any emotion at all, that certainly sounded like smug satisfaction. 

Neito didn’t know what to say, but when Izuku turned to him with a brave look on his face, it was obvious what the other boy planned to do. “You should go, Monoma-kun. I can do this, you have to believe in me!”

It wasn’t that Neito didn’t believe in Izuku, that wasn’t it. Regardless of quirklessness, he clearly had more bravery than some of the finest pro heroes. To selflessly put himself in danger for Neito’s sake. It made him almost tempted to walk out. But...

“Are you simply going to run away?” A voice asked him. It was loud and otherworldly… and yet it was familiar too, like his own voice. “Could you truly forgive yourself if you did?”

Could he? It certainly isn’t what someone like All Might would do in this situation. But what could he do without use of any quirk? 

“Are you so eager to abandon your principles for the guarantee of safety? To sell this boy down the river?”

No, I can’t do that to him. That’s the resolve his mind screamed out. The voice laughed, but it was more like a mischievous giggle. 

“Wonderful, I hear your resolve.” A searing pain ripped through Neito’s head and he fell to one knee.

“I am thou, thou art I. Thou who art willing to slay any divine power for ultimate justice. Call upon me and proclaim thy rebellion!” Neito was writhing on the ground, screaming in pain as the voice continued on.

“For far too long thou hast appropriated the powers of others. It is time to use the strength within thine own heart!" 

The guard had chained Izuku up and was leading him out of the cell.

"Stop!" Neito cried out. The guards turned to look at him and so did Izuku, surprise written on his face. "I'm sorry but I can't let this happen. I have to stop you, that's my duty as a hero!"

The guard laughed. "If you want to throw your life away, be my guest. The Emperor said I couldn't harm that boy, but he said nothing of you…" He approached and drove his gauntleted fist into Neito’s stomach.

"Monoma-kun" Izuku cried out as Neito collapsed to the ground in pain. The soldier laughed.

"Executing prisoners is the best part of this job…" The other two soldiers kept Izuku bound while the other drew his sword for the execution.

Then a mysterious wind drove the gilded soldier back. The enemies were surprised and in that brief moment of reprieve Neito felt the mask over his eyes appear.

It just felt like instinct to grab at the edges of the mask and tear it off. Once it began to rip, the blood seeped from his face, but he kept pulling and the mask came off, surrounding Neito with raging blue flames.

When the flames died down Neito was in a completely different outfit, a black tailored suit with coattails and a blue tie, over his hands were pristine white leather gloves.

Behind him floated a winged boy holding a jar surrounded by blue light and shadows of chains. He had pure white human-like skin which was covered up by the layers of white cloth that were draped around his body. His face and blond hair were exactly the same as Neito’s and they had similar body types apart from the floating figure’s shorter stature. Light shone through the ceramics of the jar in his hands which occasionally splashed out of the opening.

“This is me… my Persona. A power that is mine…” Neito stared at his hands, feeling a wave of power crashing into him, threatening to wash him away at any instant. Yet it was controlled, it was his own, it was something he’d always had at his fingertips. 

“This one’s dangerous. I have to alert Emperor Bakugo! You two, slow him down!” The guard captain barked orders at the other two before running off down the halls, the other two guards nodded and rushed into the room. Izuku moved to hide behind Neito once he got an opening where nobody was holding his chains. 

“I’m relying on you for this one... we can shine brightly together… Heosphoros!” At that moment, the guards bent over backwards and dark shadows came out of their chest revealing their true forms as Incubi. Neito instinctively just knew his attack options, and he used the spell Kouha on one of the Incubi. Upon commanding his persona to use the spell, Heosphoros shook his jar and light splashed out onto the Incubus and knocked it down. 

Neito made quick work of the demons, which were especially weak to his persona’s light-based spells. Once the enemies were defeated, the persona disappeared and the mask reappeared on Neito’s face. He quickly turned to Izuku, who was watching on in shock.

“Are you okay, Midoriya-kun? They didn’t hurt you at all?” Neito rushed over and knelt down next to the other boy.

“Wha? Y- yeah I’m fine I just… what was that?! What kind of quirk is that?” 

“Well it’s not really a quirk per se-” As Neito spoke, they could hear footsteps and voices in the hallways. Guards moving around. “We need to get out of here, before more of them come!” 

Izuku nodded and followed Neito out of the room, somewhat hindered by the heavy chains that they hadn’t managed to find the keys for. The guard captain must have ran off with them when he left. Neito did his best to navigate through the dungeons, he had to fight a couple of enemies on the way, but soon the two boys saw light and knew they were about to escape. They ran out through the gate and found themselves in the arena, surrounded by empty stands and watched by Bakugo.

“Finally some fresh challengers. I was getting bored with all the ones here…” The emperor looked at them with contempt, as if they were nought but bugs to be crushed under his boots.

“If you’re so strong, fight us then! Stop hiding behind your soldiers!” Neito said.

Bakugo laughed. “You think I’d fight you extras myself? I don’t waste my own time on weakass chumps.” Bakugo started to leave. Neito tried to run after him but a large guard with golden armour appeared in their way. It was the enemy from before.

“To think you'd get this far. You truly are troublesome prisoners. I’ve been tasked with destroying you.” Dark mist seeped through the soldier’s armour, and then it split apart and turned into a giant slime monster. “I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you because that’s what Emperor Bakugo ordered!”

Neito rushed forward and took an attack meant for Izuku. In response, he cast Kouha but the attack bounced off the huge slime without doing any damage. The slime then charged at Neito, and he started to get sucked into the slime's body by the hand. 

“Monoma-kun! It’s got you!” Izuku cried out as the slime monster sucked Neito further and further in, and was almost cutting off his breathing.

“Midoriya! Run while you can… I’ll-” He got cut off by the slime covering his mouth and nose, every attempt at a breath just got him a mouth full of slime he quickly expelled from his mouth.

Izuku stopped thinking. He ran up to the slime monster and started digging through the slime with his hands to try and get Neito out. With the chains around his hands and feet it was no use though. Whenever he’d get closer to digging Neito out, the slime would fight back and Neito would be sucked further and further in. The monster crashed into him and Izuku fell to the ground, helpless as he watched the other boy suffocate to death in the monster’s maw. 

“Are you just going to watch?” A deep booming voice called out to him, but it had a distinct quality of his own. “Stand up tall my boy! This responsibility is yours to carry. Shall you run from your destiny? Or will you journey down the path set out before you?”

He was right. Only he could save Monoma-kun. Nobody else could step in and do it for him. There was no pro hero to save the day. Izuku managed to get back on his feet.

“Incredible. You refuse to back down from your responsibility. Your resolve moves me.”

A surge of pain rushes through Izuku’s head. He holds his head in his hands to fight through the pain. He can't fall down now, he has to stand tall and fight.

"I am thou, thou art I. Thou shalt inherit heavy burdens on thine journey. If thou shalt be cursed to carry the heavens on thine shoulders, will thee back down or bear them till the very end?” 

“I understand. I refuse to back down from my responsibilities… Atlas.” The mask appeared on his face, but he couldn’t raise his arms up enough with the chains binding him. Izuku pulled at the chains around his wrists and ankles and, infused with his persona’s power, ripped through the metal like tissue paper. “This is something only I can do! I’ll save you, Monoma-kun!”

He tore off the bunny-mask on his face and the storm of blue fire that came out of him blew the slime monster back enough to re-expose Neito’s face and let him finally get a breath of air before he fell unconscious.

Behind Izuku was the figure of Atlas, a muscular but lean man, kneeling down on one knee and holding a globe on his shoulders. He had Izuku’s messy green hair, and the same eyes but he was wrapped in chains. A prisoner of fate, much like Izuku himself. At Izuku’s command he let out a blast of fire that strikes the slime. It struck the monster’s weakness and while it was downed, Neito finally managed to shake free.

“Midoriya… thank you. I don’t think I could have held out for longer.” Neito moved away from the slime before it recovered and stopped by Izuku’s side.

“I… did it? I really did it?” Izuku turned back towards Atlas. “Thank you for lending me your power, Atlas.” 

Heosphoros spoke inside Neito’s head. “It’s nice to see someone around here giving thanks to their persona…”

“What’s wrong Heos? You jealous?” Neito laughed at his persona's bashfulness. "I'm grateful for your assistance, Heosphoros."

"Your persona talks to you as well? Isn't it strange? It's as if the voice is coming from your own head. You can't hear mine can you?"

"No, I can't, and presumably you can't hear mine," Neito said. Izuku nodded in agreement and continued to mumble about his persona, and Neito looked back toward the slime monster. "We can talk about this later. First we've got to deal with him."

"Huh?" Izuku turned back around and noticed the slime monster was back on its… did it have feet actually? Either way it was back.

"Two persona users… this is irritating but no bother. I'll destroy you both!" The slime monster smashed its body into Izuku, but the boy endured the hit and countered with a blast of fire that knocked the monster down again.

"Now, Monoma-kun! We should attack it while its guard is down!" Izuku's plan was approved with a nod from Neito and the two boys relentlessly assaulted the downed slime, the enemy sustained blow after blow without the ability to fight back. It gave the boys the chance to go all out, and the monster disappeared into black mist when it was defeated.

They didn't have long to rest, even more guards appeared out of nowhere, this time completely surrounding them. Fighting them all would be too dangerous.

"Izuku! Can your persona get us over that arena wall into the spectator stands?" Neito shouted, not realising he accidentally called the other boy by given name. Izuku looked over to the wall in question. It would have been possible but…

"The guards are surrounding us… we won't be able to get past." 

"I've got an idea. On my signal we go for the wall." Neito said. Izuku nodded in agreement and Neito counted down. "Three… Two… One…"

A bright flash of light filled the arena, Neito had used his persona's light spells as a distraction, and as it was cast he'd already grabbed hold of Izuku’s hand and led him as fast as possible toward the wall in question.

When they reached the wall, Izuku used his persona to use a physical skill on the ground. It propelled them up just enough to grab the top of the wall and pull themselves up and over. By the time the guards regained vision, the two boys were already out of sight and making their way toward the exit.

Once the two walked back out through the front gate of UA, they phased back into reality and instead of a huge colosseum behind them, it was just their ordinary school. Well it was still a hero school, but more ordinary than a colosseum. 

“You have returned to the real world. Welcome back!” A voice came from Neito’s phone. He took it out of his pocket to see it open on that strange app. 

“That plan was incredible!” Izuku praised Neito with a pat on the back and then started looking over his shoulder. “The real world? Hey, it has a search history there." 

Izuku was right. Neito tapped the button to check the history and there it was. Katsuki Bakugo, UA high school, Colosseum. 

"It seems this app was responsible for our adventure. What fun!" Heosphoros was certainly more excited about it than Neito was, or maybe that was just another aspect of him. Deep down he was a little excited.

"I think so too, Atlas." Izuku was also conversing with his persona. They were becoming like best friends that just happen to reside in your head and understand you on a fundamental level.

"Holy shit, we're so late." Neito checked the time on his phone which read 1:13PM. They'd already missed four lessons and their lunch period was almost over.

"I'm dead." Izuku looked more scared than when he was face to face with death. "My mum is going to kill me…"

When he noticed the worry on Neito’s face, he quickly clarified. "She'd never hurt me or anything! I love my mum! It's just I know she'd be really disappointed if she knew I skipped school."

Neito sighed in relief. "I'll come up with some story to convince her… it's my fault you got into this mess. Meet me back here when school's over?"

"It's not your fault, really it's fine but…" Izuku hesitated for a second before nodding. "I'll see you after school, Neito."

"Oh, I'm glad that you… wait what did you call me…?"

"You called me Izuku back in the Colosseum so I thought it'd be okay…" Izuku looked upset. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable."

"I did it by accident, I didn't think you'd heard me!" Neito quickly justified himself with bright pink cheeks, but noticing Izuku's disappointment, he composed himself. "You can call me Neito. I mean you saved my life in there. It just feels right. Can I call you Izuku?"

"Yes, you saved my life as well so it'd be rude if I said you couldn't."

Neito offered his hand to Izuku. "Friends?"

Izuku stared at the hand for just a second like it was the most valuable thing he'd ever been offered. Then he quickly grasped Neito’s hand as if it were about to be taken away any second. "Friends."

The pair shook hands and the joy Neito could see behind Izuku's smile made the entire ordeal worth it. He'd not only gained a persona, but he'd also gained a friend.

_I am thou, thou art I. Thou hast acquired a new vow. It shall become the light that illuminates thy path to emancipation. With the birth of the Star Persona I have obtained the blessed bond that shall kindle the flames of freedom and new power._

They finished shaking hands and shared one smile with each other until they heard the school bell coming from inside UA. Lunch period had ended. 

The boys were snapped out of their moment of friendship and ended up running as fast as they could to school to avoid being late for another class.

He got told off by Vlad King for missing classes, but the teacher didn't seem to be all that mad at him. He seemed more worried than anything. It often spelt disaster when hero course students didn't turn up to class with no explanation. Thankfully, Neito only missed the morning classes. At UA the hero courses took all their regular school subjects in the morning and after lunch, they did more practical hero training. It did mean however that when the final bell rang, Neito had already accumulated a mountain of homework; he was expected to catch up for the four classes he missed in the morning. It wasn't his fucking fault he got dragged into a life or death situation in an amphitheatre, okay? 

Izuku was waiting for him outside the front gate. Neito waved as he got closer and did his best to ignore a grumpy Bakugo hurry past them. "I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

Izuku shook his head. "No, I just got here myself actually."

Neito hummed in acknowledgement. "Did you get a lot of homework too?"

"Mountains of it," Izuku said. "I don't know how I'm even going to finish this much."

"It should be mostly the same stuff, so we should work together. Maybe you could ask your mum if I can stay over," Neito suggested. 

"Oh, she won't mind. She's always wanted me to have friends over ever since..." Izuku trailed off. He eventually started walking and Neito followed along. After a short silence, Izuku spoke again. "Thank you so much for this..."

"What for?" If anything at this point, it was Neito who should be doing the thanking.

"No one's ever stood up for me before... let alone called me their friend." 

Neito thought about it for a second. "I mean, if you saw someone else getting bullied would you stand up for them?"

"Of course!" Izuku answered without hesitation.

"That's why you'd be an incredible hero and Bakugo wouldn't. Real heroes protect the weak, right?" Neito turned his head toward Izuku and smiled.

"Yeah, like All Might. Even though... All Might said I couldn't be a hero." There were tears at the corners of Izuku's eyes, it made Neito kind of angry.

"Then you'll prove him wrong! You have Atlas now! We'll show them all... at the sports festival! That's coming up soon." 

That seemed to reignite the fire in Izuku's eyes. "Yeah... yeah! We'll train with our personas and use them to prove ourselves at the sports festival! You'll train with me right?"

"Of course I will. They won't know what hit 'em." No matter what Bakugo said, no matter what All Might said, it didn't even matter if the whole public safety commission was against them. They were going to be heroes together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Confidant Ranks:
> 
> Star (Izuku Midoriya) - Rank 1
> 
> Edit: I was originally intending for Igor to be in this story but I decided against it, so I erased the only mention of him. Sorry for the confusion.


	3. A Power of Our Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Neito stays over at Izuku's house, and the pair get a little closer. 
> 
> The next day at school, they learn a bit more about their powers and have to return to that other world once more.

The Midoriya home was small but cosy, in stark contrast to Neito’s house, which was anything but. Izuku’s mother was disappointed about them being late for school, but once they promised they'd catch up on all the school work they missed she was just happy that Izuku had a friend over.

They managed to get it finished before dinner time. Izuku was incredibly intelligent so once they started to get into a rhythm with one another they tore through the homework. They had one subject they didn't share, Neito’s hero theory, but Izuku could even help with that. It did take a bit longer to get through that last quarter of homework though since their fourth periods were different subjects.

Dinner was the highlight of the evening and what he'd certainly remember the most from the day if it weren't for the business with the bully. Midoriya Inko could make a mean Katsudon. Throughout dinner, Izuku was eager to talk about their plans to impress everyone at the sports festival and get transferred to the hero course. The worry on his mum's face was obvious. 

Neito didn't blame her really, Izuku was quirkless. He only had the ability now to become a hero because of awakening to his persona. Did anyone else even know what personas were? 

It was after they'd finished eating that Inko spoke up. "Izuku… it's not that I don't want you to achieve your dream, I really do. I'm just worried about you. What if you can't do it? What if it's too dangerous?"

"Mum… I know I don't-" Izuku started, but Neito couldn't let him tell her about personas. It felt easier just to…

"Izuku does have a quirk, Midoriya-san. He told me he didn't have one before, but when I was attacked by a villain it just came to him. Izuku saved me with his quirk and that's how we became friends." It wasn't a total lie, that was what happened except it was with personas. But if they were going to succeed at the sports festival, they had to pretend they were using quirks at least. 

Izuku's mother turned to her son, "Is that true Izuku? Did you really manifest a quirk?"

Izuku nodded and his mother smiled warmly and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so proud of you! Can you show it to me…? I've been waiting to see my baby's new quirk for so long, I'd already given up hope…"

Izuku gave Neito a worried stare over Inko's shoulder, and Neito mouthed the word 'Fire' back at him. He didn't know if Izuku had a fire quirk in the family, but fire quirks were strong and easy to fake with Izuku's persona. They'd certainly be able to win the sports festival with a 'quirk' like that on their side. 

Inko pulled away and stepped back, looking at Izuku expectantly. He focused on Atlas, hearing his persona's voice, feeling his persona’s power lapping at his feet. It didn't feel the same as in that other world, no outfit appeared, no shadowy figure appearing behind him, just the gentle flow of power welling up inside him.

He tried to think of when he cast Agi on the slime monster, how to do that and keep the fire from flying out. He held out his hand and concentrated. A small flame appeared in his hand, hovering above his palm and not touching his skin. It threatened to shoot out in any direction and almost did escape, but Izuku managed to control it by focusing on his connection with Atlas. He stopped casting and the flame disappeared.

His mother clapped and across the room Neito gave Izuku a thumbs up.

Neito felt kind of awkward standing there as Izuku and his mother both cried their eyes out with joy after pulling each other into a long hug.

He wondered if his mother reacted like that when Neito first exhibited his quirk. Another question he could never know the answer to.

After the Midoriyas had calmed down, Izuku offered that Neito stay overnight. 

"No, no. I wouldn't want to intrude," Neito said.

"You wouldn't be intruding at all," Inko said. "In fact I'll call your parents and ask them for you, I'm sure they won't mind."

"Oh… well actually I live alone, my parents are… not around anymore." Neito's admission brought frowns to everyone's faces. He didn't like to mention what happened to his parents just for this reaction alone. Usually it just ended with apologies and Neito skulking off home and crying himself to sleep. 

"I'm so sorry, that must be awful," Inko said, a frown still present on her face. Then the sun emerged from behind the clouds again. "In that case you have to stay over, I won't let you say no! Izuku dear, can you get the spare futon and set it up in your room? Monoma-kun, do you need anything from home?"

He had no chance of winning that argument against Midoriya-san. Once she set her mind on having Neito stay over, there was nothing he could do to convince her otherwise no matter how hard he tried. Neito ended up stopping off at home to pick up some clothes and his diary before returning to the Midoriyas' to watch a movie with Izuku in his room. 

It was a movie all about heroes, but it was painfully obvious that the main character was based off of All Might. They couldn't actually get All Might though; the symbol of peace didn't hate the spotlight but he never took these movie roles. All the time spent shooting was time he couldn't spend hunting down villains after all. The symbol of peace was a workaholic if nothing else. And of course he would be. When your job is saving lives you feel committed to spend as much time working as possible. That dedication was what made All Might number 1.

"They actually got the Pro Hero Typhoon Fist to play the main character!" Izuku seemed excited but Neito had never heard of Typhoon Fist before, so he decided to look the hero up when he got the chance.

The movie wasn't entertaining, even a huge hero fan like Izuku seemed to stop paying attention around halfway through. So Neito sparked up conversation. "Our personas work in this world too, then."

"Yeah it seems like it," Izuku turned on his bed to face Neito who was lying on a futon next to him, "it feels different though than when we were in the colosseum. Atlas didn't even appear to me and my clothes didn't change."

"It's probably a good thing that we can use our persona's powers without them appearing. It really makes them look like quirks.” Neito reached over to the remote and just turned off the movie. Fuck you Typhoon Fist, your movies were a travesty to mankind. 

“Oh god, I’m glad it’s finally off… I was questioning whether to turn it off because I didn’t know if you were enjoying it,” Izuku laughed in relief. “I really wasn’t expecting it to be that bad.”

“It’s an abomination! An insult to the art of cinema!" Neito swung his arms around for emphasis as he ranted. "What even was that performance?"

"It felt like some lame imitation of All Might," Izuku grumbled, "From someone who has no idea about anything All Might stands for or believes in... "

"And the jokes... my parents' funeral was funnier than that travesty."

Izuku cackled, he hadn't expected such a dark joke coming from Neito. "I didn't even realise it was supposed to be funny... oh god, they were jokes?"

"Does he have a twitter account?” Neito grabbed his smartphone from the space next to his futon. “Ahahahahaha! Yes! He does!” 

“Oh god, Neito what are you going to write?” Izuku was still laughing a bit from Neito's last joke when he pulled out his own phone and found Neito's twitter account, @MonomaNeito. When the tweet was posted he read it and burst out laughing again.

Neito Monoma  
@monomaneito   
@realTyphoonFist I just wanted to tell you that I've always loved movies. Then I sat down and watched a godforsaken hour of your latest movie and I think I have PTSD. You make a mockery of the cinematic arts. PS: Your smile is fake af and you look nothing like All Might.  0:13 AM - 8 April 2149  0  2 

"Hey it's not funny! I'm really traumatised here," Neito feigns offense.

Izuku was wiping tears of joy from his eyes, "Sorry… I'm sorry, it's just-"

"TYPHOON FIST BLOCKED ME!" Neito showed his phone to Izuku. The screen was on Typhoon Fist's profile, and the actor/pro hero had blocked Monoma's twitter account, which just triggered the other boy’s laughing fit again. Neito put on a grumpy face, "You meanie... I'll give you something to laugh about!"

He jumped up onto Izuku's bed and started tickling him. Izuku was very ticklish because he started laughing immediately and squirmed to avoid Neito's hands. "Stop…… stop……." he got to plead every now and again between laughs, and above him Neito was laughing sadistically.

Neito stopped tickling him when Inko came into the room and told the boys to keep the noise down and that it was time to sleep. They quickly apologised and responded that they would go to sleep. Izuku went bright red when his mum winked at him and he suddenly realised Neito was on top of him on the bed. But when Neito moved to go back to his futon but Izuku grabbed his arm and stopped him. If they both stayed on the bed they could continue their conversation in whispers, so that's what they did for the rest of the night.

Most of the time they could keep quiet but every now and again one of them would say something that made the other laugh, and then they'd quickly try and quiet down the laughter so they didn't get caught. They talked into the late hours of the night about all sorts of things, but mostly about how terrible the movie was and heroes in general. Izuku knew a hell of a lot about heroes and their quirks. Neito was also fascinated with quirks so they ended up talking for hours and hours. They eventually fell asleep with their limbs tangled together after one of them nodded off mid-conversation, the other following shortly after.

Inko Midoriya wasn't stupid, she knew the boys hadn't gone to sleep after she walked in on their playing around. It didn't help that her son and his friend were both terrible at keeping quiet. Despite Izuku's general shyness, when he was comfortable he became such a chatterbox.

She was fine with it though. It always felt like Izuku missed out on this, after he fell out with Katsuki when he was very young he never brought any friends over. Izuku always reassured her it was fine and that he was getting along well with people at school; he didn't want her to worry. Still, she always knew that he didn't really have any friends. 

It was a huge relief that he'd already made a friend at his new school, Inko was incredibly worried when Izuku told her he was going to UA. Even in the general studies course, she worried that his peers would look down on him. She barely managed to scrape enough money together to afford the tuition. The hero courses were free, but general studies had a pricey tuition fee to help fund the hero side of things. Still, she definitely made the right choice. She hadn't heard Izuku this happy for years. Inko didn't cry herself to sleep that night.

The next morning was a little awkward, Neito woke up first and managed to free himself from Izuku's cuddles. He hurried over to his bag that he brought from home and took out his diary. He couldn't do it last night, so he had to do the entry this morning. It certainly wasn't something he could afford to forget.

Neito finished the diary entry quickly and the book was stuffed back into his bag. Izuku still hadn't woken up, so Neito went out into the hallway alone. He turned his head to the right towards the rest of the apartment and saw Inko was already cooking breakfast for them. It looked to be omelettes and they smelled absolutely delicious.

"Good morning, Midoriya-san," Neito greeted her as he walked out into the living room 

"Good morning Monoma-kun, Izuku's still asleep isn't he?" Inko turned toward him as she spoke, a friendly smile on her face.

Neito sat down in the living room and smiled back at her. "Yeah… I suppose this must be common for him then?"

Inko laughed. "Pretty much, he's a heavy sleeper."

"Tell me about it, I barely managed to get out from under him…" Neito realised what he said. "I mean, not that… uh he actually, he fell off the bed and landed on me you see, we weren't…"

"Can you go and wake Izuku up for me? Breakfast's almost done…" Inko didn't acknowledge Neito's scrambling and in her mercy, gave him an out. She chuckled to herself, she already knew that the boys had shared the bed, but she wasn't expecting them to let it slip so quickly.

"Yes! I can go do that now! I'm going to… yeah." Neito moved as fast as possible out of the room without being impolite. He audibly sighed in relief once he got back in Izuku's room. Dammit, Izuku's mum definitely thought he was dating her son now. Neito wandered closer to the bed to look at Izuku sleeping.

Izuku certainly wasn't an unattractive boy to say the least, so maybe the concept of dating him wouldn't be so bad. Was Neito even into boys though? Well, he did do theatre all through Middle school, but that was just a stereotype. He didn't really think he was attracted to boys. Was Izuku even into boys either? Probably not, right? 

Neito banished the thought. It was strictly banned anyway. Any heroes that were outed as homosexual had their hero licenses revoked. The hero commission was quite united on the decision to disallow any same-sex relations. So even if he was gay, it wouldn't matter. Right, he had to wake Izuku.

After shaking Izuku awake, the boys hurried through a morning routine, eating breakfast, getting their school uniforms on and all the rest of it. By the time they were done it was already 8:30am and they only had 25 minutes to get to school. 

The journey to UA was chaotic but they did agree to meet up at lunchtime in the training grounds. All hero course students had special passes to get into the training grounds at any time of day. 

Technically Izuku wasn't allowed in there, but it was the one place they could get away with using their powers and not draw unwanted attention. They decided to meet up at Gym Gamma. According to the school map it was an empty gym, which gave them plenty of space to really utilise their personas.

During the last class of the morning an alarm went off and everyone had to be evacuated. A boy with engines on his legs managed to direct the traffic out of the emergency exit and helped calm down the student body. Apparently some journalists had managed to seep through some crack in UA's security. It was annoying but it did mean that Lunch was extended an extra half an hour. 

After the alarms were off and they were dismissed, Neito headed straight for Gym Gamma and met up with Izuku on the way.

Izuku sighs. "That was scary, I thought there was a villain attack or something."

"I don't know if UA is incompetent or just complacent…" Neito shook his head in frustration. "It did give us some extra time to train though."

"They said it was just some journalists?" Izuku rubbed his chin as he thought. "How did they get in?"

Neito nods. "I don't know but if some journalists could breach security, maybe a villain could. We'd better get the hang of using our persona's powers like quirks today, it could be necessary soon."

Izuku looks at him with determination in his eyes. "You're right! If something happens we need to be able to protect everyone."

They reached Gym Gamma and holy crap it was huge. If it weren't for only having normal double doors you could easily have used the building as a hangar. They definitely didn't need this much space, but it was an empty space where they wouldn't be disturbed.

Neito swiped his card and the gym unlocked, the double doors of the gym unlocked and once they went inside the boys could only look on in awe at the sheer size of it.

"This will be perfect for our training." Neito rubbed his hands in glee. "Don't you think so, Izuku?"

"Right! Um… is it okay if I go first? I'm not really experienced so.." Izuku was stuttering a lot.

"That's fine! You stand over there and I'll stand here and you can try to use your fire." They stood 4 metres apart.

Izuku focused again, he held out his hand and a small flame appeared.

"Okay, there's a start," Neito began prodding at his limits. "Can you make it bigger?"

Izuku strained a bit but he could make the flame a little bigger. It looked to be very exhausting though and Izuku soon lost control and the flame shot out in Neito’s direction.

Izuku looked on in shock as the ball of flames hit Neito in the chest. "Oh god, I'm so sorry! Neito-kun!" 

"I'm fine, Izuku… I'm okay." Neito got back up and dusted himself off. Thankfully his school uniform was undamaged, which made him think they really should have changed into gym clothes. "I think my persona protected me… like they did in the colosseum."

"That works here too? I'm so relieved… so maybe our persona's resistances will help us here too. Maybe that's why my body isn't getting damaged from the fire…" Izuku had gone into speculation mode and there was no reaching him as he drifted off into mumbles. 

Neito heard Heosphoros speak to him. "I can protect you from damage trickster, at least until all my energy is spent."

"Interesting, is it possible for you to appear in this world as well? Like you did in the colosseum?" Neito asked.

"It is not impossible, however the strain on my powers would be too great as you are now," Heosphoros said. "Perhaps if you were to train with me in both this world and the metaverse, you could summon me in this world just as easily. It all depends on your training, your bonds with others and your bond with me." 

"Neito-kun! Atlas told me a lot about using personas here, I think I'm ready to try again." Izuku had interrupted but it wasn't unwelcome, Neito was eager to train more after what he'd heard.

"Okay, Izuku-kun. Whenever you're ready."

It was so obvious, Izuku had been so focused on his persona's Agi spell and trying to utilise that, he'd forgotten that the power of fire spread so much deeper. The flames flowed through his veins, they were wrapped around his very soul. The power of fire wasn't just Atlas's power, it was the power born from the deepest recesses of his own soul. 

This time when Izuku created the flame in his hand, it didn't fight against him. He didn't have to wrestle with it to stop it from flying off in any direction. He could control it. Maybe Neito wouldn't understand, it looked like he did exactly the same thing as before…

Neito had gotten a lot closer, he was circling around Izuku observing the flame. "I can tell you're struggling a lot less to maintain this one, I'm proud of you, Izuku-kun." When he said Izuku's name, he had a warm smile on his face, he genuinely looked proud.

Izuku's face went bright red, "It's really nothing, I- I can still only just make a flame appear in my hand."

"Well let's see what you can do with that then!" Neito clapped his hands. He stood over Izuku's shoulder where he could get a clear view of the fire. "Can you try making it hotter or colder?"

As much as Izuku tried, he could barely change the temperature of the fire, only a few degrees either way. Izuku felt really disappointed. "I can't even do that… I'm so sorry I'm so worthless at this."

"Don't say that, Izuku-kun," Neito put his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I know how much you know about quirks, not all fire quirks are the same, right?"

Izuku's eyes lit up. "Right! There are lots of different fire based quirks, some are limited by their ability to create fire, some are limited by their ability to control it, and all of them involve fire coming out from different parts of the body!"

"Exactly! You understand it as well. So why do you hold yourself to a different standard?" 

"Huh? But this power isn't a quirk…" 

"We don't yet know how this power functions, but treat it like a quirk! All quirks have limitations, but they have strengths as well. I've used enough of them to know," Neito's grip on Izuku's shoulder got slightly tighter. "I always felt like I couldn't be a proper hero because of my quirk, I understand what it feels like to be handed a power that you don't believe is yours. But we have our personas now, we need to believe in our own power." 

"You're right! Let's try something else!" Izuku was fired up again. They tried all sorts of ideas of how Izuku could manipulate the flame, but all were inconclusive. It was just one random suggestion that changed everything.

"Try making the fire a different colour maybe?" Neito was scratching the back of his head.

Izuku nodded and it just seemed instinctual. The fire turned bright red, then orange, then yellow, then green… he was manipulating the colour so easily. With each colour change the flame grew and grew, Neito had to take several steps back just to stay out of the heat.

Atlas spoke to him. "Ah, you've come to a revelation about our power… it manifests itself as a quirk: Chromatic Fire."

"So that's my quirk…" Izuku propelled the fire away from him, it flew towards the wall of the gym and left a dark scorch mark on the metal. "It's all about the colour…"

“I've never seen a quirk like that before… it's flashy too." Neito was in awe. 

"Atlas said it was my quirk…" Izuku explained. "So maybe there's more connection between quirks and personas than we thought."

"Then I should try with Heosphoros." Neito held out his hands and tried to utilise his persona's power. A beam of light shot out of his palms, it illuminated the far wall. "I definitely have some kind of quirk."

"You're like a human lamp!" Izuku joked.

"Shut up! It's gotta be something more than this!" Neito tried to think of other applications of his quirk. While Izuku was just laughing his ass off.

Heosphoros spoke to him. "Your quirk is… human lamp." 

"You've got to be kidding! That's the best thing you can give me?!" Neito stomped his foot on the ground like a petulant child.

"That was a joke… hehehe…" Heosphoros was laughing at him now too.

Neito almost started laughing too but he stopped himself and instead pretended to be upset. "I'm surrounded by bullies! I feel so attacked, victimised!" 

"Okay, okay I'm sorry. I'll help," Izuku said, trying to calm Neito down. "How about you try and think of the light as an object rather than a beam… if you can generate light then maybe there's another way to manipulate it…"

Izuku was right. He created the light again, only this time he focused on manipulating it and moving it around rather than using it like a laser. The light beam bended and moved around and then something strange happened. When Neito moved the beam of light downwards, it whipped off the ground with a loud noise. Where it hit there was a visible indent.

"Oooh, we've figured it all out! We've found the secret. Our quirk is… drumroll please!" Heosphoros was speaking with him, but he just stopped.

"Oh god, don't tell me you actually want me to do a drum roll." Neito sighed, why was his persona such a dick?

"I believe I did say drumroll please, so yes." More silence. Then finally, Neito drummed his hands against his thighs to meet his persona's demands and Heosphoros continued. "Our quirk is: Hard Light!"

"I knew my persona would have such an amazing quirk… he is me after all, even if he is a dick," Neito announced it confidently, as if just a few minutes ago he hadn't been complaining about the quirk being useless.

"Honey, if I'm a dick, so are you. I'm based on you. I just wanted the reveal to be fun and dramatic!" Heosphoros defended himself.

"You just wanted the reveal to be annoying… you're actually the worst." 

"Oh yeah? Then why did you find it so funny? You can't hide your feelings from me, Neito Monoma!"

"It wasn't funny, it was just annoying… why am I stuck with the worst persona…?"

Heosphoros laughed mischievously. "You love me really~" 

Izuku just stood there watching Neito have an argument with his own persona. Atlas had only one thing to say. "He's such a drama queen…"

"Yeah," Izuku said, "He really is." 

* * *

Denki Kaminari was having a perfectly ordinary uneventful lunch period. Definitely, he definitely didn't get completely lost in the UA grounds. After 20 minutes of aimless wandering, he heard the sound of people talking for the first time. He headed towards them, if someone was around they might know the way back.

The voices were coming from a huge building with a comparatively tiny pair of double doors… Gym Gamma was written on the sign. It intimidated him, it felt like somewhere he wasn't supposed to be, so instead of going inside he decided he'd listen into the conversation.

He reached the door and opened it a tiny bit so he could peek inside. There were two students inside with school uniforms on. First years too, so maybe they got lost. Denki wasn't sure so he listened in.

"Now we're done training here, why don't we try it in that place?" A green haired boy said. “Hey! I have the app on my phone too now!”

The other boy nodded. "That’s good to hear. We can return to that world using it right…? Let's go then."

The boy pressed something on his phone and Denki's vision went blurry for a second. When it was back, he saw them turning around to walk towards him. The blond one was wearing a black tailored suit with a tailcoat, a blue spotted tie and an eye mask that was half black and half white. The green haired one was dressed in all green and wore a green mask with bunny ears over his eyes. 

Denki freaked out and ran away to hide. Maybe that was a stupid thing to do, they'd probably want to help him. At that moment though, all he could think about was potentially getting chewed out.

It wasn’t until he was confident he'd run far enough away that he actually looked around and took in his surroundings. He was in the middle of Rome!

The gym he'd just ran from in the distance was now a long building with stone walls and a tiled roof, all around him were ancient looking houses and faceless people wearing old rags. In the distance there was an amphitheatre, a palace. Surrounding the whole city were UA's walls, except they were brick walls instead.

Then he saw the slaves, they were escorted by armoured legionaries, a line of boys wearing nothing but underwear. Then Denki felt his stomach sink and he wanted to be sick… they all had the faces of his classmates.

Denki just wanted to run, he wanted to be out of this place, wherever it was. He was about to run, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder and heavy breathing by his ear.

"What are you doing here, slave boy? You should be in your cell…" 

Denki screamed as loud as he could, but the voice just laughed. "Nobody's going to save you here…"

Denki knew what this place was. It was a living hell.

* * *

When Izuku and Neito went into the metaverse inside of Gym Gamma, they found that the gym had turned into a barracks. It ended up being a close call, the building was crammed full of enemies and they almost got spotted as they slipped out. Once outside, they saw the vast Roman city that had formed since the day before. It stretched all the way to the outer walls of the UA compound, but luckily Gym Gamma was only a 20 minute walk away from the main building, the one that had become the colosseum.

They went straight to the amphitheatre after that, it was the building they had previously found Bakugo in after all. They hid behind a low wall a short distance away from the main entrance.

"Did you hear that?" Izuku asked. "I swear I could hear a scream just then."

Neito waited for a second to listen out. "I didn't hear anything, not that I don't believe you or anything. Where was it coming from?"

Izuku thought and scratched his head, but he just couldn't really remember. "No idea… it was pretty faint. So not around here."

"We could check it out later… but for now, how the hell will we get back into that place?" The front entrance to the building was guarded closely by heavily armoured legionaries, and the perimeter of the building was being patrolled regularly.

Izuku looked around at the patrols. "We can't go in the front." 

"That's for sure, and we can't sneak in around the perimeter with all those patrols," Neito sighed in frustration. "We're going to need to find another way in."

Izuku hit his palm with his fist and turned toward Neito. "Why don't we just fight our way in? We could probably beat a few patrol guards!"

Neito swayed his head back and forth as he considered the options. "We could do that… but we'd probably attract a lot of unwanted attention. It might be best to retreat for now and come up with a solution when we've got more time."

"I agree!" Izuku beamed at Neito and with that, they returned to the real world. Almost right after returning, the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch period. The boys went their separate ways reluctantly with a promise to meet up later.

Nothing notable happened until the end of the first afternoon lesson, when Vlad King got pulled aside by another teacher, a man with blond hair and a pink visor. They talked for 5 minutes and everyone in the class noticed that their homeroom teacher looked worried. Students would randomly zone out of their training to stare over at their teacher to try and figure out what was going on. Eventually Kan-sensei told everyone to stop training to make an announcement.

"One of the students has gone missing, so principal Nezu has made the decision to cancel school for the rest of the day," Kan-sensei explained. "We can't continue teaching when our security may be breached. The principal is also considering cancelling school tomorrow to upgrade the security system." 

"If I may inquire of you," Shiozaki was the first to ask a question. "Who exactly went missing? All of us are accounted for."

Kan made a noise of slight surprise. "Yes, I suppose I should have told you that. His name is Denki Kaminari. He has blond hair with a black lightning bolt in it, and he belongs to class 1-A, the other first year hero class."

"What are we supposed to do?" Kaibara asked, "Are we just being sent home?"

"That was the idea," Kan-sensei said it with a bit of an unreadable expression. Almost like he had something else in mind.

"Fuck that shit! We gotta help find the guy!" Tetsutetsu said.

"I agree!" Kendo clapped her hands together. "If we can help, then we should do it! Kaminari might be in danger!"

Everyone in the class seemed divided. Some were tempted by the prospect of going home early while others were fired up and determined to aid the search. Neito had to speak up.

"We should go and help 1-A search for their classmate. They'd probably do the same for us…" Neito said this but he knew one member of 1-A who probably wouldn't. "Besides, could we even call ourselves heroes if we abandoned Kaminari? What if some villain's got their hands on him? He could be in real danger!" 

That seemed to convince the rest of the class. Neito didn’t know anyone in class 1-A, but he felt sympathy for them having to deal with that brute Bakugo. Or maybe they were all as arrogant as him. Regardless, meeting up with them would give him the chance to learn more about the brute that might help in the other world. But worry for Kaminari was part of it too. Neito couldn't shake that feeling that maybe Izuku had heard Kaminari's scream in the other world. If they had got dragged in there, it was possible for him.

Everyone was fired up though, Neito heard a couple of "Fuck yeah!"s and similar sentiments. One person said "Even Monoma-kun says so" which was quite rude considering the circumstances. 

Their teacher looked proud. "Spoken like a true hero. It seems everyone's on board so we'll go and meet up with Aizawa's class." Kan led the way and the class followed behind, chattering.

Kendo came up to Neito and elbowed him lightly in the arm. "Thanks for the help there, appreciate it! You really got everyone inspired."

"Me? No, that must be a mistake…" Neito laughed it off.

"Seriously! Like no offence but I thought you were a bit of a dick when we first met on Sunday."

"Slight offence taken, but go on."

It was Kendo's turn to laugh. "I just wanted to say that I hold my hands up and admit I was wrong about you. And trust me, I have big hands. I can see why someone like you got into the hero course."

"No, I think you were right… I was a bit of a dick, I apologise for that," Neito didn’t look at Itsuka as he spoke, but she stayed quiet and let him continue. "I suppose I was a bit confrontational and arrogant. I was so intent on proving myself and proving I could be a hero without a unique quirk of my own that I didn't consider everyone else."

"You really didn't need to do that, Monoma-kun… but thanks." She held out her hand to Neito. "I hope we can get along well."

Neito smiled and accepted the handshake. "I hope so as well, I think we were right to choose you as our class representative."

They met up with class 1-A and immediately his new friend started extolling his virtues.

"Everyone was unsure about what we wanted to do and then Monoma-kun," Kendo pointed at Neito. "He went into a speech about how we should help look for Kaminari because that's the heroic thing to do."

"Holy shit, that's so fuckin' manly dude…" A boy with spiked red hair was crying some manly tears.

"Oh, Kendo-san… you shouldn't underplay your own role in it." Neito tried to be humble.

"Hey shitty hair, why are you paying attention to these fucking extras?" Bakugo never seemed to stop shouting, and this was Neito's chance for some revenge.

"What's wrong, Bakugo? Do you want him to pay attention to you instead? Perhaps you'd like him to notice you so you can confess your... true feelings," Neito punctuated it with a sassy flick of the hair and a wink.

Bakugo went bright red then started to charge at Neito, explosions crackling from his hands. "You asshole! I'll fucking ki-"

As Bakugo got within a few metres of Neito, he was wrapped up and bound by Aizawa's capture weapon. He couldn't move or even speak with the bindings restricting him.

"Stop picking fights. A student's life could be in danger and you're acting like a delinquent. I'll expel you if you cause any more trouble." Aizawa was dead serious, he stared at Bakugo with ice beaming from his eyes. Not literally of course, that wasn't Aizawa's quirk.

"I think it's better we each take half of each class, Aizawa-san." Kan suggested.

The other teacher agreed so they got split up. It was probably intentionally to keep Bakugo away from Neito. However that did mean Neito was left in a group where practically nobody was familiar to him.

He knew the names of everyone in class 1-B of course, but he hadn't really gotten a chance to interact properly with most of them.

The red-haired boy from before was in his group though, and he came up to Neito once the other group was out of earshot.

“Sorry about Bakugo, he’s kind of like that to everyone…” The redhead laughed nervously. “I’m Kirishima by the way. Kirishima Eijiro.” 

“Monoma Neito, it’s nice to meet you Kirishima.” Neito smiled at him. “You’re much more agreeable than that brute, Bakugo.” 

“I get that he’s kind of rude but I really don’t think…” Kirishima started.

“He hurt a friend of mine very deeply, so I don’t think I can get along with him. Not until he makes things right.” Neito clenched his fist.

“Yeah man, I get that… I hope your friend is okay.” The silence after that was awkward, then the ringing of his phone made Neito jump. 

He looked at the screen, and it was Izuku. He answered the call. “What’s up, Izuku? You heard the news?” 

“Mhmm… someone went missing right?” Izuku asked. "Do you think maybe… that he's in that place?"

"Either way it's worth checking." Neito started to stray away from Kirishima and looked around to make sure nobody was listening.

"Right! There's no time to waste. Uhhh... there's a training room, not far away from Gym Gamma. I'm pretty sure it's empty, we should activate it in there."

“Yeah, that works. Just activate it when you get there, and I'll do the same. We can meet up in that other place." Neito avoided using specific language, just in case Kirishima could still hear.

"Alright! I'll do that... see you there!" Izuku hung up. Neito took another look around to make sure nobody was watching before splitting away from the group, it’d definitely make everyone panic even more though when they saw another person was missing.

Neito activated the app when he was in the meeting place, the dark and empty training room was just out of the teachers' search radius, and Izuku appeared into view as they transitioned into the other world for the second time that day.

"This is about that scream you heard, right Izuku?"

He nodded, "Yes, but not only that… if he got trapped in here… it would explain why Kaminari just disappeared and nobody can find him."

Neito raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You sound like you have a theory."

"Well think about it. Why do you think nobody has checked outside of UA?" Izuku fidgeted as he talked, more due to excitement than nerves. "Surely if someone gets kidnapped or something, it's best to get them far away from the school. But they're not searching the city at all! They've not even contacted the police or other heroes to search the city!"

That could only mean one thing. "Then that means somehow, they're certain that Kaminari is still on school grounds."

Izuku shook his head. "Not necessarily, to know that they'd have to know precisely where he is. But they must know he can't have left the school. The only way to leave is through the front gate, and there are cameras everywhere. They must know Kaminari's last seen location from the cameras, and they know he hasn't left through the front gate because it keeps a log."

"So you think he has to be in the metaverse?" 

"Exactly." 

Neito took another look around, it was still surprising. "You know we didn't get much time to discuss this but, it's hard to believe this place changed so much since yesterday. It used to be just the colosseum, but now it's like an entire city." 

Izuku made an affirming sound. "Yeah, Kaminari must be in the city. Last time the scream came from somewhere far away from the amphitheatre." 

"Considering the size of UA though, if this city fills the entire area of the walls we're going to struggle." Neito tapped his forehead as he thought. "It must be from a part of the city close to the amphitheatre."

"Well we were on the south west side of the colosseum when we heard the scream, and the barracks are north west of the colosseum, that's where we came from." Izuku mapped it out in his head. "The outer walls go out much further though."

Neito took a deep breath. "This place must be mapped out like the school, so the colosseum building is like the main school building. Gym Gamma is nearby to the north west of the school building, right where the barracks are. So if we figure out where Kaminari last appeared in the real world, we can find him faster here."

"I was still in the classroom when Kaminari was reported missing," Izuku had a confident look in his eyes. "I'm certain I saw the teachers searching the training area around Gym Gamma!" 

Neito nodded. "It has to be. It's close enough to the colosseum to hear the scream, it's where the teachers are searching… and if we go with that logic, maybe he got sucked in when we activated the app earlier!" 

"You're right…" Izuku nodded a few times and then he stopped in realisation. "Wait, we didn't suck anyone in this time, did we?"

"Oh I'm fairly sure I didn't…"

Izuku wasn't impressed at his lack of confidence. "Let's hope not… anyway, it's time to save Kaminari!"

Neito nods. "Lead the way Izuku," with Neito's reply, the two boys hurried over to the barracks. 

They reached the barracks in 30 minutes, because they had to take a few detours through tiny alleyways to avoid guard patrols and got a little bit lost at one point. The city that had formed in this other world was densely packed, you could hardly see anything into the distance, and the only building that reached high enough to be seen from the spot in front of the barracks was the amphitheatre.

They stuck close to the wall, and Izuku found an open window they could use to enter the building. Neito was ushered over, and once there he studied the building's interior from the window. "Something seems off. There were a lot more guards in here earlier today, when we entered from Gym Gamma. It looks empty."

"You're right…" Izuku was looking through the window next to him, his head resting gently against Neito's shoulder. "Maybe they got reassigned."

"It could be a trap," Neito said as he turned to face Izuku.

"Even if it is a trap, we've got no choice but to walk into it," Izuku turned to meet Neito's eyes. "Wherever Kaminari is, Kacchan is probably going to use him as bait to capture us."

"Ugh… you're right," Neito sighed and shook his head. "You are much more aware of the brute than I, but that does sound like something he would do." 

"Then let's go!" Izuku tried to climb through the window head first. He got his torso through just fine, but lost momentum and couldn't pull his other half through. "Um… can I have a little help please?"

Neito laughed at the sight of Izuku, his bottom half sticking out of the window, and his legs kicking helplessly as he tried to pull himself through. "You got a little over-eager, didn't you..?"

Izuku flushed red. "Stop teasing me Neito-kun! Help me through!"

"Alright, alright I'll do it," Neito laughed even as he spoke. He moved closer to Izuku and lifted his thighs, then slowly pushed him forward through the window. Izuku was lowered down onto his face on the other side of the window. "That wasn't the cleanest infiltration…"

"I think I need a bit of practice," Izuku laughed nervously.

It was time for Neito to get through the window. He did so smoothly, first placing one foot on the windowsill and putting his hands at the top of the window frame. He then moved his full leg and upper body through the window at the same time, leaving just one leg outside the window which he then easily brought up and through. 

"You live and you learn I suppose." Neito put his hand on Izuku's shoulder in reassurance.

"Mmmmmmmmph!" A frantic muffled voice came from the back of the building. The two boys turned their heads toward the end of the long building and there he was.

Kaminari was tied up and gagged on a chair opposite to the door. He fit the description perfectly. Neito and Izuku hurried over to him, Neito went to take off the gag and Izuku started working on the ropes. 

Once the gag was off, Kaminari shouted at them. "You have to get out of here! They were waiting for you! It's a trap!"

"I knew it… Izuku, we need to go."

Izuku was struggling with the ropes. They were so tight he couldn't get through the knot. "Crap… I think I'd need a knife to get through these." 

"Izuku!"

"Huh? What?" Neito's shout drew his focus away from the ropes.

"We have company…"

Izuku tore his eyes away from the ropes and looked around the room. They were surrounded by guards, there were at least ten and all of them looked tough. 

Both of them said the next word in sync with each other. "Persona!"

* * *

Neito Monoma was a duplicitous fellow. Once the search for the lightning-haired one began, that fiend started acting suspicious. He tried to sneak off from the group. Kuroiro had to admit, that scheming nature was one he admired, but if Monoma thought he could deceive his eyes he would be sorely mistaken. Kuroiro gave chase, sticking to the shadows and following Monoma. Eventually the boy stopped and took out his phone in a dark room. Kuroiro got closer, so he'd be able to hear any conversations his classmate might have, it was easy to blend into the shadows with his quirk. Perhaps he would be consorting with the villains, sharing details of his success in their evil plan, but Monoma said nothing. Then, everything twisted. Kuroiro found himself in a world of antiquity. How intriguing. He stepped out of the shadows once Monoma left with his companion, and set out to find the secrets of that Roman cityscape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter should have come out way sooner, but I just wanted to keep extending it and extending it. I've decided to release it in this state, and split it into two parts, this works well for a chapter break anyway. I'm so sorry it took this long, but I really am committed to this fic, and I have lots of ideas already. On reflection, I'm glad it's taken this long because I've come up with lots of ideas I'd like to implement in future chapters that I hadn't thought of before, and I've also rearranged some confidants. Hopefully Chapter 3 doesn't take as long to come out. 
> 
> This chapter has lots of moments I'm really proud of, and I hope it's enjoyable to read. The tweet idea was really fun to implement, and I might use that again in future.
> 
> Confidant Ranks:
> 
> Star (Izuku Midoriya) - Rank 1


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